000			10022cam a2200241 a 4500
999			_c1636 _d1636
020			_a9781403928634 (pbk.)
020			_a1403928630 (pbk.)
040			_cCUS
082	0	4	_a954.02 _bSHA/I
100	1		_aSharma, Ram Sharan _926087
245	1	0	_aIndian feudalism, c. AD 300-1200/ _cRam Sharan Sharma.
250			_a3rd. ed.
260			_aNew Delhi : _bMacmillan India, _c2006.
300			_axxv,392p. : _c22cm.
500			_aReprint of the third edition; originally published in 1965. Includes bibligraphy and index.
505			_aORIGINS AND FIRST PHASE (c. AD 300-750) Defining feudalism Grant of administrative rights along with land charters to priests Grants for religious and ideological services Grants for fiscal services Officers paid through land grants in post-Gupta times Villages granted to secular parties for religious tmd also for secular purposes Terms for officers and administrative units indicate land grants Feudal connotation of amdtya, kumardmdtya and other titles Hereditary officers Growing semifeudal role of village headmen Origin and growth of the sdmantas and their obligations Loss of royal monopoly over the possession of horses and elephants Litde evidence for commenda tion Grant of barren and cultivated land Differences between Bengal and Madhya Pradesh in respect of land charters Exten sion of cultivation through land grants The mode of agriculture in setded areas Agriculture in tribal areas Emergence of temples and brahmanas as landlords Organisation of agricultural production in religious and secular holdings Position of the peasantry Visti and contribution of rent in labour Labour service and the European feudal practice Servitude of the peasants through transfer to the beneficiaries The nature and extent of serfdom breakdown of slavery and emergence of serfdom Rise of sudra peasants ’Self-sufficient’ economic units Paucity of coins Decline of urbanism and of trade and commerce Feudalisadon of guilds and merchants Irrigation, a local responsibility Agrahdras and European manors Comparison with the European feudal organisation Substantial landlords and servile peasantry II FEUDAL POLITYIN THREE KINGDOMS (c. AD 750-1000) Pala grants of fiscal and administradve rights Giving the secular administradon of criminal law and jusdce to religious beneficiaries common in the Pala kingdom Pradh^a royal grants specified only fiscal rights Feudatories of Pratiharas gave both fiscal and administradve rights of private jusdce Many religious charters carrying fiscal and administradve concessions in the Rasp-akuta kingdom Comparadve paucity of epigraphic evidence regarding secular grants Specified taxes as payment for some Rasp-akuta officials Subinfeudadon under the Rasprakutas and Pratiharas Right of ejection conferred on the donees under the Ra§pakutas A comparadve view of officials in the three kingdoms Growing feudalisation of officials Kinship and vassalship Powers, privileges and obligations of the vassals The nature of the overlords control over his feudatory Role of vassals in central and local politics Elevation of the village elders Feudalisadon of guilds under the Rasprakutas No fixed capital for the Palas Imposition of clan aristocracies over setded peasants through the duodecimal system Indentificadon of feudal elements in early medieval polity III FEUDAL ECONOMYIN THREE KINGDOMS (c. AD 750-1000) Growth of a class of landed barons at the cost of royal and peasant authority over land Grantee’s increasing individual rights in land at the cost of communal agrarian rights Effects of ejection and subinfeudadon on the peasants Members of the ruling Guijara- Pratih^a tribe reduced bytheir kinsmen to the position of semi- serfs Practice of forced agriculture in Rajasthan and extension of forced labour Economic subjection of the peasantry and scope for new impositions by the grantees in the Pala and Pratihara charters No legal redress for the peasants Billeting of cdfas and fiAafoson the villages in Bengal, Bihar, Bundelkhand and Chamba Feudalisadon of trade and commerce under the P^as and Pratiharas: Little scope for marketisation and growth of self-sufficient units in the countryside Restricdons on ardsans Local weights and measures and decrease in money exchange Trade in luxury objects Elements in feudal economy Extra-economic methods for the exploitadon of the peasantry IV EARLY MEDIAEVAL LAND RIGHTS (c. AD 500-1200) Debate regarding royal ownership and individual ownership of land Evidence for communal rights from Vedic to Gupta dmes Curtailment of communal rights and growth of royal rights Gupta law-books and other records on royal possession Nature of individual occupation of land down to pre-Gupta times Growth of individual rights in land in Gupta and post-Gupta dmes Resolving contradictory views of the lawgivers on land rights Comparison with land rights in medieval Europe Comparison with land rights under Muslim rule V THE HEYDAY OF POLITICAL FEUDALISM (c. AD 1000-1200) Complete polidcal disintegradon on the break-up of the GuijaraPradhara empire Origins of the principalides through service grants Service grants of land fewer in Assam, Bengal and Bihar More service grants in Orissa than Assam, Bengal and Bihar taken together Frequent land grants to military officials under the Candellas in Bundelkhand More grants to civil officials under the G^iadavalas in Uttar Pradesh Appordonment of land as fiefs among the kinsmen under the Cahamanas All C^amana administradon not a family affair Some Paramara land charters to members of the ruling clan Few epigraphic records of grants to Paramara officials Paramara vassals and feudatories Areas set apart for the personal upkeep of the ruling chief and his kinsmen under the Caulukyas Large territories to vassals and high officers under the Caulukyas Regular and exclusive levies for payment to officers under the Kalacuris, Candellas, Gahadavalas and Cahamanas Origin and evoludon of levies for officials Functions and obligadons of the vassals Military assignees as a numerous class Part played by vassals in polidcs and administradon, though not as an organised collecdve body High watermark of the feudalisadon of officials Draft of land charters to officials Agni Purana and Lekhapaddhati on the fiefholders Land grants for vassals and high officials well recognised in the 12th century texts Feudal hierarchy described in texts on art and architecture Summary of the chapter VI CLIMAX AND CRACKS A regional survey of land grants to religious beneficiaries Largest number of recorded landed intermediaries in the 11 th- 12th centuries Extension of the demesne of the landed beneficiaries because of undefined boundaries Transfer of enlarged agrarian rights and resources Distinction between receiving usufruct and rights of ownership Increase in subinfeudation Service grants even for minor functionaries Transfer of peasants and artisans along with the land Enumeration of taxes levied from the peasant Peasant contribution for the fees and maintenance of various royal ofihcials Feudalisadon of crafts and commerce in Rajasthan, Malwa and Gujarat Climax of feudal economy Dents in feudal economy- colonising activities of the beneficiaries restricted Disappearance of forced labour under the Paramaras, * Chaulukyas and Cahamanas Formation of larger economic units in the countryside Cash payments levied from artisans and traders in Western India Revival of towns and trade Place of consumer goods in foreign trade Cultivation of commercial crops and revival of trade The use of araghatta and improvement in shipbuilding Internal trade helped by better transport Revival of money coinage A picture of contrasts VII THE SEGMENTARY STATE AND THE INDIAN EXPERIENCE Fieldwork versus historical method Concept of the state The Alur society not a state Ritual suzerainty and political suzerainty Ritual suzerainty and the Cola kingdom Segmentary concept and the development of the Cola polity The segmentary state and the Rajput polity North Indian state - segmentary or feudal? Asiatic mode of production Caste and the state Origin of the state Problems of transition Inadequacy of the theory of the segmentary state VIII HOW FEUDAL WAS INDIAN FEUDALISM? Organisation of tribal society Concept of peasant society Feudalism defined Variations in feudalism Difference between serfdom and feudalism Control of means of production by landlord * Four graded stages of land rights in the same piece of land Terms used for peasants in mediaeval inscriptions and literature EflFective control over means of production Passages of changes in the methods and"relations of production Feudalism in paddy-producing areas Outcome of forced labour Limitations of the appearance of landlords and subject peasantry Features of caste system Development of jajmani system Expansion of irrigation facilities The feudal versus the segmentary state Concluding observations CONCLUSION Critical characteristics of a feudal formation found in early medieval India Origin and development of Indian feudalism through land grants Uneven process of creating a class of landlords Rich terminology in epigraphs for various types of vassals Causes of the subjection of the Indian peasantry Evidence regarding the reaction of peasants Self-sufficient economy and decay of trade and towns * The historical role of early Indian feudalism Some similarities between Indian feudalism and its European counterpart Feudalism not identical with administrative decentralism, but a form of social order Stages in early Indian feudalism
650		0	_aSocial classes _zIndia _xHistory. _926088
650		0	_aFeudalism _zIndia _xHistory. _921030
650		0	_aPolitical History _zIndia
650		0	_aPolitical Structures _zMedieval India _xHistory _926089
650		0	_aEconomic Relations _zMedieval India _xHistory _926090
942			_cWB16 _03